


Kaiden

by Shirojin



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-10-06
Packaged: 2018-08-17 12:48:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8144599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shirojin/pseuds/Shirojin
Summary: The Sage of the six paths defeated the Ten tails, and acquired its power. But to defeat a monster, one is needed. As the sage becomes a teacher for the first time, Kaiden is raised with the power to defeat the Sage's final opponent. But everything didn't happen at once, you know. Nobody knew anything, all had to be found when it came to the knowledge of chakra 2000 years ago.





	1. The Beginning

Chapter 1: Intro

Before even chakra existed in humans, there was war. Perhaps there always will be, but in times past there was always war. Between the clans of the nations, and the nations as a whole, all fought for power, to preserve their families and loved ones. But this era came to an end, in all but a moment. When a woman of the Otsutsuki clan dug her teeth into the fruit of chakra, and all the world fell into the palm of her hand. But this was not to last. As she bore a son, her power flowed into him, and in her rage, she became the beast called Ten-Tails, and sought to regain her power. But, in the sealing of the Juubi into the Moon’s core, the power of Kaguya faded. But the Juubi was not simply sealed into a large rock in the sky. No, there is much more to this story.

A man, looking to be about the age of fifty, casually strolled down a long dirt road. Sandals on his feet and a pack on his back, the man seemed without a care in the world. But he did have a care, and one that was quite loudly growling at his stomach. He clutch his abdomen and his face scrunched, as he realized he hadn’t eaten in days. As he pulled a map of the nations from his pack, he proceeded to climb up a nearby rock, to survey his surroundings. He stared diligently at the mountains and trees around him, until he concluded that he was in the middle of the Land of Water, near the border of the Land of the Eddies. As he slowly descended from the rock he had climbed, the sun slowly started to fall from its place in the sky. With the setting of the sun, he could soon make out the light of fire, one that might’ve been a village. To the man, the sight of a village was a joyous occasion, as it marked the presence of the quite desired food. He then resumed his walk along the promising road, barren as it might’ve been, with the hope in his heart that tonight, at last, he would eat. This paired with a rest in a feather bed, as he had been on the trail for months. 

Yet, with all the hope around him of the next night and morning, there was still a silent though nodding at his conscience. What have I accomplished? For the man to once again think of this and not food, he knew that he was getting too hopeful. But his hope was one well earned, after rationing his supplies and walking on ragged sandals for a month, it was still something he felt he did not deserve. As he approached the village, the light emanating from the horizon began to flicker. He paced closer and closer until he could see another light approaching the village. Many. This was not a good omen to the man, as the only lights that traveled fast in the night were of two: a panic, or bandits. Both walked hand in hand, as one came easily with the other. He anxiously strode into the village, and as he begun his walk to the main market, his fears were realized. A small band of raiders, he could count only ten, were running up to the village, torches in hand.  
As the bandits entered the streets between the houses, they threw their torches at random. Upon landing, the blazing light of the burning wood ignited all they touched. A panic rose amongst the villagers, rushing out of their homes. The men rushed to the main path and gathered to confront the bandits, but were badly outmatched. All seemed lost for the small village, until one man stepped in front of the ring of combatants, and started to move his hands.

“What do you think you can do old man, with these odds?” one of the bandits yelled. Another then added, “He thinks he’ll beat us with his little hand signs!”

“That is exactly what I will do!” As the man finished his sentence, water jetted from his mouth, laying the bandits flat. As they wriggled in the pain of the sudden fall, the man continued to douse of the village, until all the flames in sight were extinguished. All but one. As small light in the palm of the old man’s hand, for him to see the faces of the men who had sought to bring destruction and rob the innocents of a simple village. As various villagers began checking their homes, a sigh of relief spread across the village. As it seemed then, nobody was hurt. Scratches on a few, bruises on another, but none in the village were maimed. The men of the village retrieved any rope that was unburnt, and then proceeded to bind the bandits. A silent word swept the village folk: their judgement would come tomorrow.

But for the old man, tomorrow couldn’t be farther. He slumped to his knees, his body’s supply of water exhausted from the use of his technique, and his stomach gnawing at his body. As he fell to his knees, the people of the village gathered around him, and instantly knew what he needed. It was the same thing travelers always needed, only this time they were willing to give it. As they began to carry him away to the inn, the old man felt obliged to ask, “Would you mind sparing sparing a meal for an old man?” As they approached the inn, which, luckily, was still intact, the innkeeper responded. “You’ll be getting more than that good sir. You have helped this village more than any of these oafs.” Despite the attempt at humor, the people of the village were too tired and shaken to appreciate it. But the old man being carried knew he would appreciate it to his last taste of breakfast.

When the old man awoke, he found himself lying in a bed, and saw his pack and sandals set against the wall. He was startled, and took a moment to recall the events of the previous night. As he began to remember, he quickly exited the room and rushed down the small flight of stairs to ask the lady attending the bar, “Is everybody alright?”  
“Everybody is alright sir, you needn’t fret. Now please have a seat and I will find you something hot to eat.”  
For the old man, that was a sentence he had longed to hear. When the innkeeper brought him a plate of food, steam rose, easily making it more appealing than any meal he had in years. He sat on a stool near the staircase, and set his food on the small table in front of him. As he began to eat, he tried to do so without looking like a starved wolf, but that goal was only met with half of a success. AS he finished the plate and chewed the last bite, the kind woman had returned with another plate, and a smile that told him she seemed to know what he had been through. But she doesn’t, he thought to himself, and nobody ever should. With this thought, he eagerly began his second helping, relieved to feel the sensation of being full.

At the finish of his meal, he struck a conversation with the kind innkeeper.  
“I do hope this was the first time bandits have come for the village?”  
Her response was not favorable. “Unfortunately it isn’t. This is the third time, and we were lucky you were there.” The woman looked him up and down. “Nobody got a good look at you last night, we thought you were some kind of god.”  
“I’m no god.”  
“Well you sure don’t look it. You’re hair is covering your eyes! How long has it been since it was cut?”  
“Not long enough,” was the only response the man cared to give, but he had noticed something peculiar about the woman too. Not only her, but everyone around too.  
“My hair may be long, but what about your’s? It’s a surprisingly bright red.”  
“Its normal around here,” the old woman said, “in the Land of Eddies, almost all of us have this hair. Not saying it’s good though.”  
“Is that why the bandits target this place? The Land of Eddies?”  
“Why does that matter,” was the response “if they keep coming anyway.”  
The mood suddenly darkened, and everyone in the room got a little quieter. A startling shout was heard outside, as a man and his wife ran through the main street, alerting the town of disturbing news. A family’s house had burned down the night before, and had been trapped inside. 

The man rushed to the street, anxious to see what he had missed. How had he let this slip? He realised his fault as he bolted down the street, through the main road and to the edge of the town, onto a small trail that lead to a small house on the edge of a rice paddy, surrounded by trees. “How did this happen?”The old man bellowed, “Where are the bandits?”  
A man yelled back from farther up the path. “They’re gone! All of them! We don’t know how.” The man looked back upon the house as the village stirred with commotion. Near the torched house was a pile of flayed rope and a knife. “That is how they escaped. I should not have allowed this.”  
The village was as unsettled as he was. Everyone had known who was in that house, and hadn’t checked on them after the brief raid. The village looked on in silence upon the small home, beams and roofing all on the floor, charred black. All the people around the wreckage shared glances, and knew there was only one thing to do in this moment.  
The old man finally broke the silence, and said in a somber voice: “We must bury the bodies quickly.”  
The old man knew in his heart that the couple who were now deceased would’ve been alive, had he not fallen so easily. The villagers approached the ruins of the house, and upon spotting the red hair that defined the land, they set upon to remove the wood beams that had crushed them. They silently moved around the long wooden prism, lifted it above their heads, and walked towards the edge of the dark pile, where they set it down. After three more cross beams had been lifted, the old man walked toward the bodies of the young couple, whose hands were still locked. A tear rolled down his face as he asked the innkeeper, “What were their names?”  
“They traveled a lot to trade their rice. They had just returned. I believe it was Uzumaki. I can’t remember their individual names.”  
The old man closed his eyes and whispered the name to himself. He repeated it multiple times, but there was no recognition. He had no connection to these people. Yet, in that moment, he felt that these people had become important to him, and that he had failed them. He scoured his mind for a way to redeem himself, but he did not yet know what he could do. As four villagers proceeded to carry away the bodies, a glimmer of hope appeared for the man. Hope of redemption. A small boy lay in the pile of wood, untouched, except for a scar over each of his eyes. His red hair swayed as a breeze blew by, and his body twitched from cold. As his body curled tighter, it occurred to the old man that the boy was to young to acknowledge the reality of the situation, providing good reason not to wake him. All that was known about this child was that he would grow without the care of parents. 

The villagers gathered in a circle around the house, pushing further in to see what the commotion was about.  
“They protected the child,” was all a man carrying the boy’s mother could say.  
A question took form in the mind of the village, but it took an old man tos say it out loud. “Who will raise this child?” The village went silent, and all the somber words of the townsfolk stopped, as each considered the situation they would be in with another mouth to feed. As it seemed to the old man, none standing in the grove of trees would take in the Uzumaki boy.  
“Does anyone know this boy’s name?” The innkeeper asked. None in the crowd replied.  
“I didn’t know they had a child,” a voice said. Another answered, “they must not have ever taken him into the village.”  
“He looks to be at least seven, how would he not have gone into the village?” the old man questioned.  
“If he went with them on their trading trips, he would have seen more of the world than we have.”  
“Enough questions. I will take care of him.” The if the old man had encountered any protest to this statement, he probably would have reconsidered, but to his despair or hope, there was none. He lifted the boy from the small patch of cleared ground, as he realized the boy had been under the weight of his parents since whenever the fire was started.  
“He must see a healer, he is very fragile. Does anyone here have any experience treating wounds? Anyone, please, even the least will help.” The village’s spirits diminished once again. Their usual healer had been away for a week by then, the old man was told. Then I must use this power once again. “You must understand, we have no experience healing, and anything done by us might hurt him.” A woman from the village stated. “But the doctor should be back again tomorrow, he can wait till then can’t he?”  
“I’m afraid he cannot,” the old man said. “Lets hope I can help him.”  
The old man gently pushed his arms under the boy, carefully lifting him so as not to jolt the boy’s body. As the old man carried the boy down the path, every weave through the trees and curve in the path made the old man tremble. He struggled to keep the boy steady, as a drop could break more bones than the burning house did. After navigating the streets of the village back to the main street, the beige color of the two story building was a welcoming sight. He gently stepped with his toes to reduce shock as he slowly climbed the stairs to the room he had slept in. He placed the boy on the bed face up, and removed the tattered shirt the boy wore, to reveal the blue and purple circles that dotted the boy’s chest. 

The old man forcefully clapped his hands together, and felt his chakra move towards his palms. As his power accumulated, all he thought to do was place his hands over the boy’s heart. From the moment his palms reached the boy’s skin, a glow resonated from the old man’s fingers. The boy started to sweat, and the old man could tell he was uncomfortable. But the old man could not contain his own power, nor did he have enough healing experience to do so. The glow around the man’s fingers started to flicker, fading and brightening with the boy’s pulse. As the changes in the light became more fast paced, the old man could see the boy’s heart begin to glow blue, a much deeper color than that of the light from the man’s hands: green. This was not a good sign to the man, and the boy began to tremble, and his eyelids twitched. The glow of the boy’s heart spread in lines, reaching across the body like a network, forming small blue circles in the boy’s skin, and very large numbers of them. Where each of these circles appeared, the bruises in the vicinity began to shrink, and the color became lighter. The old man was starting to sweat as well, and as the boy began to shake more and more, the man stopped the flow of power into the boy, and all the light from the chakra faded. The boy’s eyelids fluttered rapidly, getting faster and faster, and the man, fearing the worst, let his chakra flow into the boy once more. But upon doing so, the boy’s eyes opened, and his body shot upright, as if he had been struck by lightning. 

The man and the boy stared at each other momentarily, until the boy turned and faced the crowd of people in the doorway, eyes wide with shock, as they had never witnessed anything quite like what they had a moment ago. The old man quickly turned his head to face the others, and he realized that he hadn’t even noticed them there. He once again turned to face the boy, relieved that he had accomplished his task. However, the boy had just gone through something that no human had ever experienced, and his body was as confused as his mind. The boy fell backward onto the cushion at the head of the bed, and his eyes closed once more. The man began to panic, frightened that his power had hurt the boy instead of helping him. But, the boy’s eyes did not twitch, and his breathing was steady. The old man and everyone else were relieved to see that the boy was peacefully sleeping.

The next day, the boy awoke, and stared at the ceiling. He could not recall anything that had happened. He looked around and tried to recognize the small room he was in, but could not. He look around, vision blurred, and was able to make out the shape of the door. He lifted the blankets from over his body, and started walking towards the door, only to trip on a small knot in the wood floor. The boy reached out and grabbed the bedpost, pulling himself back up a moment before landing. He tried to think if he had ever done that before, but didn’t recall his reflexes being that good. He slid his hand along the edge of the door, and pushed. The door didn’t budge. He pushed harder, only to get the same outcome. He then grabbed the door handle and tugged with all his strength, causing it to swing towards him, once he realized his mistake, he shifted his weight to the left as the door brushed past his shoulder. The boy exited the doorway, and moved his head to survey his surroundings. He noticed a few more rooms, as well as the small staircase that led downstairs. Once he noticed this feature, he carefully stepped towards the rail, as he could not see if there were any more hazards like the first. He lowered his foot onto the first stair ledge, clutching the rail tightly and shutting his eyes. As his shoe touched the second step, his mind measured the distance and he started steadily down the stairway. Once he reached the bottom, he opened his eyes, and could almost make out the faces of the people around him. He look all about the room, until he noticed that the only moving blob without red on top was the old man, sitting at the same table as the day before, worriedly eating the same breakfast. The man as well as everyone else in the room turned to see the boy, relieved to see he was almost good as new. The boy turned to the old man and the innkeeper, unsure of what to do. The innkeeper recognized his plight and called to him.  
“Why don’t you come have a seat and eat, dear.”  
The innkeeper beckoned for him to sit in the chair next to the old man, and set down another plate of food. As the boy saw the outline of the stool, he walked toward it, tripping again on another knot in the floor. The boy stumbled again this time, but did not fall. He climbed up onto the stool and tasted to food before him. It was good. The boy ate faster than anyone had expected, and was done in seconds. The old man let out a hearty laugh, and was glad to see the young boy next to him was able to eat, especially after the previous events. 

After the boy ate what seemed to be a day’s worth of food, he looked up at the man next to him and his eyes narrowed, for he could not make out his face. Even through his impaired vision, the boy could tell there was something covering it. But before the boy could ask, the man had a question of his own.  
“What is your name, young man?”  
Silence was the only product of this endeavor, as the boy was now on the thought track of his past. The boy delved into his memory, seeing only bright light. The man seemed to notice this, and wondered if he could even speak.  
“Do you know where you are?”  
Again, silence was the only thing that followed. The old man was beginning to worry that the boy did not know how to speak. Fortunately for him, this was not true.  
“Where am I?”  
“The Land of the Eddies, in your hometown. Do you know where that is?”  
“No,” was the only reply the old man got. But, he was not discouraged, as a failure now would making living harder down the road. The old man knew that living with this boy would be a problem without assessing the boy’s knowledge, but before that, he needed something to call the boy other than young man.  
“Well then, if you do not know your name, then what do you want to be called?”  
The boy shrugged, as he didn’t know any words or names that meant something to him.  
“Well if you have nothing in mind, then I will have to name you. How about,” the man paused to think of a good name to describe the child. “Kaiden. We shall see if you can convey my blessing.”  
The boy could not tell what the old man meant by this, but he understood his name. “Kaiden,” the boy muttered to himself. He now knew his name, but not the old man’s. “Who are you?” The boy asked, staring at the blurred figure of the old man.  
“You can call me Hagoromo, and you are going to live with me from here on.”  
“Why?” the boy inquired. To Hagoromo, this was a question that should have been answered on the spot, but he had not the heart to tell the boy. Kaiden looked up at the figure of the innkeeper, wondering if she would tell him. But none did, and Kaiden looked about the room to see the others’ faces. He looked up at the old man, and asked a question that burned in his mind. “Are we going somewhere?”

“Why yes, we are, Kaiden. You are going to see the world at my side.” This seemed like an interesting prospect to the boy, but another importance took priority for him.  
“Where is the bathroom?”  
The old man laughed once again, as the innkeeper pointed to a door a few feet to the right. Kaiden swiftly weaved through the tables, and did not trip on any knots this time around. Hagoromo turned back towards the innkeeper, to as what should’ve been his final question. “I need some supplies for the road ahead, and I don’t know where the next village is. Do you have a map of this land?”

“I do, in fact,” the innkeeper retreated to a room a few feet away, and returned holding a scroll. “The ‘Land of the Eddies’, best map I have to offer. I believe you came from the south, correct?”  
“Yes that is correct.”  
“There is a village to the north a week’s walk from here, and another to the west,” she told him, “travel along the river.” She then reached under the counter and pulled out a small sack, packed with food.  
“Thank you for all you have done,” the old man said, “I can’t thank you enough for your hospitality.”  
“Thank yourself. That child and half of us would be dead if not for you.”  
Kaiden returned from his stop and sat down again on a stool, only to be told they were leaving. The boy did not complain, yet the old man could see the tiredness in his eyes.  
“We are going to need to fix those eyes of yours, aren’t we?”  
“Yes,” the boy replied, relieved that Hagoromo had noticed. With that, the two travelers set off on their journey, with no end in sight. As they began to walk on the smooth dirt, the old man looked at his companion and asked, “Can you feel it, Kaiden? The earth’s power all around us?”  
“Sort of,” the boy responded. “Just a hazy blue around everything.”  
Hagoromo brushed his hair aside from his face, and continued to look at the world around him. The the black rings pulsated as the purple began to move, looking for the chakra all around them. The old man could not see it that well, and was astonished that Kaiden could. Perhaps those who are blinded, are those that truly see. The old man and the boy continued their strides, into whatever lay ahead, including one last rock for Kaiden to trip on.


	2. Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before acquiring more power, you must first master what is given to you. By following this principle, Kaiden just may regain his eyes.

Chapter 2: Sight

“Are you not going to talk to me at all?” Hagoromo inquired, but was met with silence. He sat below an oak tree, leaning against its trunk, tired from a day’s walk. As the old man looked at the forest beyond the path, all the trees seemed to glow again. He was taken aback by this, as he had been struggling to see the chakra of the earth for his entire journey. As the glow became more potent, he noted that it seemed to resonate more when he was still. He would try to recreate this circumstance in the near future, but for now, there were more pressing matters to attend to. 

Kaiden lay beneath another oak tree across from Hagoromo, and seemed to be looking up into the branches. A bird was perched on one, tending to a nest directly above the boy’s eyes. As the wind blew, the branch began to sway, shaking the nest. The wind began to blow more forcefully, until the small sparrow’s nest tilted off the branch, landing on the chest of the small boy. Kaiden was jolted throughout his body, the surprise came too fast, causing his whole body to quiver from the seemingly scary event. His eyes shot open, and his hands rushed to the source of the impact, feeling its texture and features to assess what had occurred. The old man was certainly entertained by this, as his face brightened into a smile and a small chuckle escaped his lips. Kaiden was not as enthusiastic, as his eyes had been closed the whole time, and upon finding the nest on his stomach, he proceeded to remove the cylinder of twigs and place it to his right, under the tree. He looked at the brown circle, which was all he could make out or the nest, then at the blurred shape of the bird. He then thought to himself about what action to take, and decided upon returning the nest. He picked up the nest, lifted it above his head, and jumped up to return the nest.   
“You seem to be too short for that kind of thing,” Hagoromo said humorously, “Would you like some help?”  
“No,” Kaiden told him, “I can do this.” He formulated the idea of getting a running start, but as he ran across the dirt, he slipped on a patch of smooth dust. As he got up and regained his bearings, he realized there was no way he could do this if he couldn’t see what was around him.  
“Can you fix my eyes?”  
“Those two are the longest sentences I have heard out of you, you know,”  
“But can you?”  
“You must not be rude,” Hagoromo replied, “when asking for something. I do not know if I can heal your eyesight, Kaiden.” But the old man was determined to try. “I do have an idea, though. Do you at all remember the feeling of power flowing through you?” The old man soon realized the error in his statement, as Kaiden was unconscious when the event had occurred. “Never mind that,” he corrected himself, “but do you feel anything unusual in you, such as pain or tingling?”  
The young boy though upon the statement, but came to only one conclusion. “If I stay still, sometimes,” Kaiden broke off, trying to think of the right way to phrase the feeling, “it feels like I’m a river.”

This statement sounded very unusual to the old man, as he had never experienced anything of the sort. Or had he? He thought about the meaning of a river, and came to recall the blue light that had flowed through the boy when he had healed him. That was what Kaiden had told him, there were streams of chakra flowing through him, to all of his body. If this was true, giving him enough chakra might heal his eyes. “I think I might have a solution to the problem with your sight.” The old man dug through his mind, thinking of the best way to give his young companion a large amount of chakra without hurting him. To the old man, this was an impossible prospect, as the small amount of chakra he had given the boy to heal him had looked like a surprising amount of pain. His conclusion consisted of one factor: this boy would need to be accustomed to chakra, through hard training.  
“Training?”   
“That’s right. I will train you to use the chakra I have already given, to prepare for the process of returning your eyes.”  
“Why?”  
“Because if your body is not accustomed to the presence of chakra; a large surge of it will likely do quite the opposite of healing you.” Hagoromo was getting impatient with the young boy, but in his heart he knew that questions would become a common situation.  
“Will it be hard?”   
“Yes, and it will be harder if you do not stop complaining. I have decided that we will begin at sunrise. Now get some sleep.”

Kaiden once again looked towards the nest to his right, feeling its features until once again he had a clear picture of it in his mind. He then sat himself up, reached his hand out to the tree beside him, and dragged himself up from his spot on the ground. Determined to return the nest to its branched, he breathed deeply, and began an attempt to scale the large oak that loomed above him. After multiple ascents and descents, the young boy felt he had enough knowledge of the tree that he could return to the top with the nest in hand. Without opening his eyes, he reached down and plucked the bird’s nest from its position on the dirt beside the tree. He reached out with his open hand to feel where the trees stood, and began to climb, nest in hand. After achieving a height of 15 feet from the ground, Kaiden felt the branch to his left with the fingers that held the nest, and stretched his arm to balance the nest atop it. His arm trembled and his neck began to ache, as his arm pushed itself to its longest length, until at last he released the cargo in his hand, and let his arm sway back to his waist. But the relief of the young boy was soon countered, as the weight of his arm’s swing wrenched him off the trunk of the tree, launching him into the thing twilight air. Just when Kaiden imagined his bones cracking against the flat dust, a powerful gust was created from Hagoromo, easily levitating the small boy a foot in the air. As the wind ceased to emanate from the mouth of the old man, the young boy landed softly on the roots of the oak. Unfazed from his sudden descent, Kaiden stared wide-eyed at the old man, shocked at the sudden events. Despite his lack of vision, he had seen the series of extraordinary happenings that had just unfolded. The young boy looked up from the ground and saw the old man, silhouetted against the setting sun, with a hand out that sent a message, without words, signals, sounds, or feelings. This was the man that could change the world. 

Kaiden reached out to take Hagoromo’s hand, and was lifted back onto his feet.   
“Will I be able to do that?” The boy wondered excitedly.  
“With training, I think you just might be able.” The old man responded, acknowledging the boy’s enthusiasm.  
“Can we start now? Please?”  
The old man was surprised at the sudden interest of the boy’s, as he had been quiet for the entirety of the journey thus far. “You will need rest before we train. As I said, we shall begin tomorrow. Sleep now.” The old man tried to emphasize his command, as Kaiden would not be fit for training on an unrested body. He looked again at the leaves of the oak, and saw the last streak of sunlight fade from the evening sky. As he looked down from the treetops, a shivering chill came from the wind. It was to be a cold night. He retrieved the extra blankets from his pack and unfolded them, feeling the material, while trying to remember where he had obtained them. As his thoughts ran wild, the old man remembered they were given to him by his brother, who was on a similar mission. To travel the Lands and learn what they could about the power they were born with. He looked over at the small lump next to him, and saw Kaiden wriggling around in his blanket, no doubt hyper with excitement about the training that would occur the next day. As the old man separated the thin sheets of cloth, he set one around the squirming ball that was the young boy, and one atop his other blankets. As the energized body of Kaiden began to settle, his breathing and slumber began to deepen, allowing the old man to finally lay down upon his small patch of grass, and settle down for the night

The next morning, Kaiden awoke in a flash of anguish, as his body acted on the sudden realization that one of his miniscule feet had escaped the warm, comforting confines of his blankets. He scrambled wildly to maintain his dropping temperature, finding his feet and wrapping them in the edges of the sheets, curling his body as tightly as possible to maintain his state of warmth. Unfortunately for the small, tired boy, his shaking had awakened Hagoromo, who was refreshed and, unlike the boy, ready to start a day of training.   
“Rise, Kaiden. I thought you were excited about training for the first time.”  
“Too cold,” was reply Kaiden saw fit to give Hagoromo. But the old man disagreed.   
“It is not cold at all; the sun is up and heating us. Wake up and you will feel it.”  
“Too tired,” another two word sentence seemed to be sufficient for the young boy, but quite the contrary to Hagoromo. The old man let out a deep sigh, for there was only one solution to the problem of children sleeping. He reached down towards the boy with his left hand and let it close around the two blankets. Before Kaiden knew what was soon to happen, he tore the blankets from the young boy, exposing him to the morning air. A chill jolted up the young boy’s spine, small bumps forming at the hairs of his arms, and he let out a small cry of surprise, before leaping to his feet to find his precious lost blankets. But as the rays of the sun hit his pale back, his body became less cold, and the sensation of freezing subsided. His hands tucked in his arms, he once again raised his head toward Hagoromo, and remembered the amazing feat he had witnessed the evening before. His eyes lit up in the morning sun as the realization of what the training entailed dawned on him, as the sun did as well. Today, he would learn the ways of chakra.

Kaiden and Hagoromo had packed their small amount of belongings back into their bags, after a brief lesson on how to fold a blanket, and headed into the forest that surrounded the path they had traveled. Minutes within departing their camp, they had reached the river, which ran parallel to the road, the landmark that they used for guidance on their map of the land. The young boy dipped his hands in the frigid water, immediately returning them to the surface after realizing how cold it truly was.   
“If you want water that is not almost ice or near boiling,” the old man started, “you will now have to heat or cool it yourself using your chakra.” Kaiden was surprised by this sudden statement, as water was essential for life, and to add to that, he knew nothing about this ‘chakra’ the old man spoke of. He glanced at Hagoromo with a puzzled look on his face, as if waiting for an explanation. The longer the old man waited to give an answer, the more worried a look the young boy’s face began to show.   
“I will show you, but by the end of the day, it should be easy for you.” The comment by the old man was relieving to Kaiden, as he would not have to sort out the way of chakra by himself.  
“As I have come to notice,” Hagoromo began, “Chakra tends to show itself as five elements: Water, fire, wind, earth, and lightning. I believe they can be compounded after much more practice, but they are relatively easy to use individually.” The old man began to exercise his hands again, forming three different signs. As the movement came to a halt, the old man inhaled to his lungs’ maximum, and held it while scooping a handful of the freezing water. The old man then exhaled, causing a burst of fire to flow from his throat, directly into the water in his hands. “Feel it,” the old man encouraged, nodding toward the liquid cupped in his hands. As the young boy reached out with his hand, a waft of steam hit the tip of his finger, causing the boy to pull his hand back. The old man knew that soon there was to be a question from Kaiden, and it came soon after he emptied the contents of his palms into the river.  
“Why did you move you hands?” The young boy pondered.  
“It helps me remember. Have you ever done something you do not quite recall, yet your body knows? It works the same way. For every sign, the chakra knows what to do, even if you do not completely.”  
“How many are there?” the boy asked, causing Hagoromo to begin remembering all the ones he had created.  
“I will teach you each of them when they are each needed. For now the basics.” After a brief period of comprehension by the boy, he tried to copy the movements Hagoromo had made, unsuccessfully for the most part. Kaiden made the signs with his hands, inhaled, and exhaled forcefully toward the river. Even to the young boy’s blurred eyes, fire was something easily distinguishable, and the realization of his failure came at a relatively speedy rate. This brought forth a long sigh of disappointment from the young boy, though the old man seemed to find it quite amusing. “Nobody will execute anything on their first attempt. Do not be quite so distraught.”  
Kaiden seemed to understand the implications of the statement, but after another go at the feat, he began to question his method.   
“You do need to feel what you are doing, and not just do it. Can you feel the chakra flowing through you?”  
“Not really,” the boy replied, and the old man soon understood what the next form of training was to be.  
The old man lowered himself to the ground, and crossed his legs on the rocks near the river. He nodded to the boy to do the same, and the boy fell the ground in a more rapid way than the old man had. Hagoromo took a deep breath and gave Kaiden his instructions. “Sit still now, and let the chakra flow throughout you.”  
The young boy was a bit puzzled at first, but as the crisp air of the riverbank filled his lungs, his breathing began to steady and his mind calm. Kaiden felt his heart beating in his thin torso, and the blood that ran in his veins. As all that happened within him became clear, another happening revealed its presence. It flowed with his blood and filled his body, tingling his nerves as it followed its path through him. Intrigued with this newfound phenomena, Kaiden began to track the movement of this feeling, following its course as it traveled through his body. As the sensation began to seem more frequent the young boy was able to feel its path and route more clearly, until eventually he was guiding it from limb to another. Just as Kaiden was beginning to acquaint himself with the feeling of control, a lap of the icy water slapped against his sandaled feet. The sensation of the mysterious energy left him as the cold shock of the water traveled along his nerves, along with a shaking of his spiky red hair to dispel the surprise. After frantically feeling around his arms, Kaiden realized he had lost the feeling, but realized that at least now he knew what the old man was talking about.   
“I felt it,” the boy exclaimed, opening his eyes.  
“That is good, but now you must be able to control it as I can. Do you feel you can do that?” the old man asked, hoping for the best. Even if the boy could not, any progress would still be the most.  
“I think.”  
“Then let us try some techniques once again.” Hagoromo was now hopeful that the boy would be a swift learner, yet did not know if this was even to be considered, as nobody other than him and his brother had trained with this power before.  
“You do remember the motions, do you not?”  
“Yes.”  
“Well, then, have a go at it.” The old man told the boy, “remember to aim towards the river.”  
The young boy once again breathed into his deepest, but, before he could finish his third hand symbol, the air rushed out of Kaiden’s lungs. He would need practice with either lung capacity or the speed at which his hands moved, deciding on the latter of the two. Going through the hand motions time and time again, a few minutes later he felt he was ready once again. He filled his lungs, then, instead of what he was told, only made the first symbol of the sequence, pressing his fore and middle fingers together and locking the rest. As he exhaled a small burst of flames escaped his mouth, and Kaiden could feel the mysterious energy moving from his lungs. As the rest of the air exited his lungs, a large ball of fire appeared in front of the boy, causing a sudden leap backward. This was unprecedented, but the young boy knew his mistake. Had he let out his breath evenly, in contrast to small and large puffs, the flames might’ve come out more steadily.   
Hagoromo, on the other hand, was almost as surprised at the events of the past moment as Kaiden. Having seen the miniscule ball of flame at first, he had assumed that was all there was to be seen, as it was the boy’s first successful attempt. Yet, even with the large fireball that had emanated from Kaiden, the old man knew that there was still much more practice to be done before the young boy knew how to control the power that he himself barely understood.   
Through the day, Kaiden come to know not all of these symbols worked instantly, and many of them not at all. After learning how to wield flames is his lungs, the old man told him they he would show him wind next. This was one of the two types the young boy could visualize, remembering the previous day’s events with admiration. As he proceeded to make symbols with his hands, Hagoromo looked down from his hands to the boy next to the flowing water, to see if he was still paying attention. Once it was known to the old man that he was not, in fact, acknowledging the motions, he began to devise a plan that would keep the boy from taking his glance away from the lesson. After all, if he could not keep his focus on a task, e would never succeed. Taking a deep breath, Hagoromo’s chest widened, his gray garb widening. He formed one of the hand signs he had not yet taught the young boy, and before Kaiden could comprehend what was forthcoming, a wave of liquid poured from the old man’s mouth, soaking the shirt of the young boy. As he was hit, the young boy began to lose balance, his small foot in the air behind him, swinging his arms haphazardly in a futile effort to regain balance. After seconds of struggle, Kaiden toppled face down into the freezing water. 

Finding himself in the middle of the river, the young boy paddled his arms to keep himself on the surface. After a few panicked breaths, he spotted the old man through the red haze of what he soon recognized as his wet, deep red hair. After stroking his fluff back above his pale forehead, he once again began to swim towards the old man. But to Hagoromo, Kaiden’s swimming was much more of an awkward flailing of arms than elegant strokes. Upon reaching the banks of the river, the young boy pressed his feet against the smooth stones, making sure he would not slip. More humiliation might have made the young boy unwilling to do anymore training for the day. As he reached the edge of the rocks and was back atop the grass of the forest, he slumped down on the tree beside him. With a small exhalation, angrily blowing air upward to once again remove his long hair from his vision. 

After a few seconds of heavily breathing, he looked up at the man in front of him, and asked in a somewhat sarcastic voice, “Why did you do that?”  
“Well, for the most part, you were not paying attention to what I was trying to teach,” the old man replied.  
“You didn’t have to hit me with water. And knock me into more water.” The boy shivered as he spoke.   
The old man was not happy with the young boy’s attitude, but decided against scolding him. So, he tried to take a more reasonable approach. “You could have listened to what I was saying. You do want your eyesight back, I take it?”  
“Yes. But I don’t understand why there is so much to it.”  
“I am happy that you have warmed up to me, but there is still much more until you are ready, I feel.”  
“Okay, but can it not be more interesting?”  
“Only a little more until we can try more advanced training. Now-” Hagoromo continued on to teach the young boy the remainder of the hand signs, explaining what he used them each for. What Kaiden had taken from his experience that day, though, was that the old man was not just that there were five elements, but that they were much harder as they progressed. Or so he thought.

The next day, Kaiden awoke to what seemed like a nice day of what would be training, but upon closer inspection of the old man’s actions, he realized what the day’s events were to be.

“Rise, young one, today we must make more progress on our journey.”  
“Why?” was the only answer Hagoromo received.  
“Because we cannot stay in one place forever. We will follow the river to the next village.” This may have outlined what they were doing, but the young boy still did not understand why exactly they were always moving.  
“Where are we going?” was the next question the boy had, and the old man knew it would be one of many if he did not answer them all at once.  
“We are going to the next village, it does not matter where. We can train anywhere, can we not?” This answer seemed to satisfy Kaiden, but there was still another inquiry left in the young boy’s mind.  
“When will I get my eyes back?”  
“Well, first, you have not lost your eyes; they are hurt. I can repair them once you have had enough experience with chakra to withstand a transference.”  
As the two walked, the young boy’s mind continued to stream back and for between topics, until one settled in the back of his mind.  
“What is ‘transfer-” he paused, trying to articulate the word the old man had spoken. “-transference’?”  
“It is when I will give you a significant amount of my chakra. I am currently under the impression that it will heal you.”  
As the two strolled on, the old man began to think of ways to break the silence. He decided upon exchanging information about themselves, as they had not done so, and would need to know about one another to make their lives more connected.  
The old man decided to initiate the conversation.   
“How old might you be anyways, young man?” Hagoromo had tried to sound polite, as young children tended to think of age as something of high importance.  
The young boy then answered in a very proud voice, “Eight.”  
Upon replying to the old man’s question, Kaiden had formed his own along the same lines of thought. “How old are you, old man?”   
This struck Hagoromo as more of an exclamation than an inquiry, and he responded in what he thought was in accordance. “I am not an old man; I happen to be thirty seven years of age.”  
To the young boy, not noticing the weight of his first question, this was more of a retort or comeback of sorts that an answer, and proceeded to respond within that mindset.  
“Then why is your hair grey?” this question seemed to resonate within the old man, until he came to the conclusion that matched why he was so tired all of the time.   
“I believe it is a symptom of my chakra. Another component might also be stress. I don’t quite know.”  
“You seem like an old man.” Hagoromo was now offended by this statement, and was no longer sure that the boy’s change of attitude was for the better.  
“I am not an old man, making you a young boy, unfitting of the words ‘young man’.” Noticing a decline in the conversation, the not so old man decided to change the topic of discussion.  
“Would you like to do more training?”   
“What kind?”  
“I think we shall try wind today. I have a feeling you are going to be proficient in that area.”   
This seemed like a much better idea to the boy, as trading insults with the old man had not ended well for him. Without understanding the word proficient, Kaiden took this as a compliment after the turn of the discussion.

After many hours of meditation and feeling of his inner spirit, Kaiden was beginning to feel like he was getting more and more used to the sensation of chakra. But naught before two hours had passed, the young boy could not keep still and got up to practice. He made the sign for his flames with his fingers, knotting them together in front of his chest, and let out a large amount of air to create the small fireball that had formed the previous day. After this success, Kaiden felt much more confident in his abilities. He repeated the motions of the exercise multiple times, until he felt he had full control. Eager to try something new, he then started down off the path toward the river they had been following. As the flowing water came into sight, his blurred vision caught a glimpse of something that was not green like the trees of reflective like the river. It was a small yellow sphere that was roughly the size of his head. He saw this and thought that it would be a great target for his techniques, as it would be easy to spot if it moved, with it’s bright color. What he did not realize, on the other hand, were the small buzzing creatures that created the small hazy spots in the young boy’s eyes. He decided he did not want to destroy this object, and decided to test his proficiency in the practice of wind instead of fire.   
Kaiden closed his eyes again and looked into himself, feeling the energy that flowed through him, as he listened to the river next to him, he began to feel the presence of water, along with the fire he had first learned. But with patience and diligence, the humid wind blowing from the south revealed to the young boy his next mission: Wind. It swirled within his lungs as he breathed, sharpening as it twisted around in small tornadoes. Upon the release of his breath, the chakra of wind sped toward the yellow object.  
The old man, on the other hand, had not been attending to the actions of the young boy. As he saw the boy releasing wind from his mouth, a surprised look came upon his face. He had not expected the boy to summon another element the very next day. But as the boy exhaled, Hagoromo’s gaze wandered in the direction Kaiden was aiming at, and took notice to much more detail than the boy had. A swarm of small fuzzy yellow creatures were about to be hit with what seemed like a hurricane to the insects. A face of horror flashed across the old man’s face as he watched the yellow ball sway and break from its hold on the tree branch. As the boy watched, a look of satisfaction came onto the him, seeing the blurry yellow ball fall to the grass. But upon the fall, another blur formed, growing as it progressed. The young boy squinted to see what was heading toward him, but did not notice in time. He heard a shout from the old man: Run to the river. Before he could speak to question this command, a pang of pain shot through his pale arm, and another on his ankle below the cloth of his shorts. Without need of acknowledgement, he turned tail and dashed as quickly as his legs could carry him in the direction of the river, splashing into the icy water without a thought of the temperature. Looking back to see the swarm of yellow dots still advancing, the young boy breathed in and submerged his head below the surface, shielding himself from the hive of unknown menaces. 

After many momentary emergence's from the water for air, the young boy decided it was safe to exit the safety of his shallow hiding place. As the water level receded from his waist to his feet, he notice the old man laughing from the path a few yards away. Chin high in the air, the old man seemed be laughing at nothing at all.   
The boy was not pleased by this show of emotion, as he had been stung twice and had to stay in freezing water for the past minutes.   
“Why are you laughing?” Kaiden, still confused about the events that had caused the stinging in his arm and leg, resolved to make sure he knew what he was aiming at from then on before he tried to hit it. This seemed like a decent proposition, but he still had no way of analyzing a potential target. Hagoromo seemed to have an answer to this prospect.   
“I find it funny,” pausing to catch his breath, “That you had no forethought of what you were targeting and no concept of danger whatsoever.”  
“I can’t exactly examine everything on sight.”  
“That will change when the time comes.” The conversation was over.

As the days passed the young boy grew ever more impatient with the old man, and his own abilities. He had shocked himself, quite literally, when attempting to use lightning, and tended to knock himself from his footing with earth. Even with what what might be considered failure, they could not compare to his battle with water. It was simply impossible.  
“I can’t do it.”  
“Of course you can, you need only more effort, young one.”  
“I’ve been at it for a week. It’s not going to get better.”  
“It never will with an attitude like that. Is your eyesight no longer of importance to you?”  
“Well, no-”   
“It will be much less of a hassle for the both of us if you cease your negativity and give your training more effort. Once you are able to summon water, I will heal your eyes.”   
This was enough of one argument for the boy, and seeing the final stretch of this part of the training, decided on trying to get it over with. He sat himself down by the river, legs crossed, and once again probed his soul for the chakra flowing through him. As each type began to sift itself from the others, he began to move each to a different portion of his body, in an attempt to summon the fifth. To his dismay, water would not seem to appear anywhere he could feel. Kaiden listened to the river flow, and tried to imagine what that would feel like in his lungs, a flow of water drifting through his veins. Soon after he began to relax and unwind, a thought came to his mind about what the different types of chakra would do when summoned.  
“Do you think different chakra types interact with each other?” Kaiden asked.  
“It seems that could be possible. Do you believe that is what inhibits you?”   
“What would inhibit water? It’s an element.”  
“Perhaps fire.” The man was intrigued by this train of thought, for it was not one he had followed during his travels. All types had come to the man easily. “Or perhaps maybe,” pausing to think, “lightning?”  
These thoughts all seemed to click in that moment, and Kaiden once again sat to analyze his chakra. Upon the separation of each type, as he had done before, this time he began to organize the different sensations. He tried to divide away the elements that would prevent the feeling of water, sending them to his legs, and leaving earth and wind more towards his hands. While each became more and more distant from his heart, a space opened in his chest. Seemingly empty of chakra, the boy had to resist the urge to release each back into the flow of his blood. As he held, his fingertips began to tingle and his toes started to heat. He cavity of emptiness in his chest began to feel like a black hole, pulling at his chakra to return. But in the absence of all that suppressed it, the chakra of water presented itself. An intense fluid form that was much more difficult to guide, Kaiden noticed it would be not be an easy path to control as the others were. He opened the pathways to his chest, letting the water seep into his lungs. As the air inside him became humid and tense, his exhaled with as much force as he could muster, spewing the liquid from his lips into the river before him.

The old man saw this, the element claimed to be impossible for the boy, jetting from Kaiden’s mouth. He began to grin as he looked toward the boy, and as a sense of pride welled inside the old man, he remembered the duty he had promised to perform. The time had come to fix the young boy’s eyes. “I suppose it is time I repair your eyesight.”  
“Finally,” The boy replied, eager to see the world again.  
“It is getting late,” Hagoromo said, “are you sure we shouldn’t wait for morning?”  
The boy shook his head, but in reality, was more nervous about the operation than the old man was. Hagoromo, who’s only experience in the medical field consisted of the time he healed Kaiden on emergency, kept to himself his doubts about the outcome. This is the boy’s only hope he told himself, in half consolation for his own fears. “Lay on the dirt and close your eyes,” he told the boy, “I’ll tell you when I am finished.”   
Doing the old man’s bidding, he removed his shirt and rested his back against the smooth grass near the riverbank, red hair contrasting the browns of winter grass. As the old man stacked his palms over the boy’s chest, he began to guide his chakra into the boy. With no restriction, Hagoromo’s massive chakra flowed rapidly into Kaiden, filling the veins that carried it. As Kaiden’s system overflew, the chakra that exceeded his limit burst from his skin, coating his body in its presence. It warped into irregular shapes, igniting into each’s physical form and colliding with themselves. Fire flowing across his arms, lightning arcing from his legs to the water that now encased his torso. As the different chakras clashed with each other’s presence, the old man came to the realization that he had given too much of his own chakra. Shutting the flood gates within his palms, the flow of energy ceased to enter the boy. Looking down at the mess of mud and energy covering Kaiden, the old man began to panic, fearing the worst for the boy. As all thoughts began to faze from his mind, Hagoromo, in a last effort to save Kaiden from himself, recalled the thought of his own eyes, and how they held his power. Without pouring more into the young boy, the old man began to take control of the chakra that had left him, guiding it toward Kaiden’s head. It swirled and spiraled, compressing itself into all the small networks that lay within the boy’s eyes, sifting into their own small sections of the boy’s irises. The old man, hesitant about releasing his grasp on the boy’s chakra, at last let go in a fit of anguish that it would explode back. But what happened was nothing of the sort. The boy’s eyelids jerked themselves open revealing the pattern that held his power. A spiral of a deep, fiery red, into a pale translucent white, an earthy brown and electric cyan. Finally an ocean blue, fading back into the red. The old man had never gazed upon a pattern such as that, and in one single confused moment, Kaiden’s eyes shut once again. A sigh of relief exited the old man. He had succeeded. Or so he thought.

**Author's Note:**

> I will try to update with a anew chapter about every week, depending on the situation. All feedback is appreciated.


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